Page 53

It sounded so cold and brash laid out like that. What must Mr. Sullivan think of her? Of her parents? Worse, what if she was wrong, and she’d blackballed them to a man of this esteem?

“I’ve heard rumors,” he said, at last.

Cadence’s hands dropped away from her face as she looked at him. “You have?” And… why hadn’t she had a clue?

The old man’s gaze was shrewd as he studied her, like he could see right into her soul. Well, she had nothing to hide.

“I don’t give credence to most of what I hear. There are gossipers everywhere, most of whom only wish to make themselves look better.”

“That’s… true.” She’d noticed it herself, a time or two.

“I doubt you are here exposing your parents in hopes I will see you in a better light than I see them.”

“No, sir.” She dropped her gaze and twisted her fingers tightly in her lap.

“Then why?”

“They spent money they didn’t have on a wedding I ran away from.”

Mr. Sullivan’s chair creaked as he leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head. “I understand Paul Bradley is the one who canceled the event.”

“Yes, but… I feel responsible. Because he’s asked for forgiveness, for reinstatement, and I’ve refused it. Doesn’t that make it my problem?”

“No.”

Cadence’s gaze flew to the old man. “No?”

“I can understand how you feel, but two mistakes don’t make things right.”

“Two negatives make a positive in Math.”

He dipped his head in acknowledgment. “It also works in English grammar, albeit poorly. After all, when we say something like, ‘I don’t not want to do it,’ it doesn’t exactly mean that you do want to do it. It means you’ll do it, but under duress.”

Like if she married Paul now. But no. She definitely did not want to, and no double negative could make it sound palatable.

“Sir? What do I do?”

Mr. Sullivan studied her as he steepled his hands in front of him. “What are your options?”

“Marry Paul.”

He snorted. “Next?”

“Refuse to marry him, and let my parents lose their home.”

He waited, eyebrows angled into his white hair.

Cadence took a deep breath and let the words out with a rush. “Or try to raise some money to pay my parents back for the wedding that never was. Maybe that way we’d retain some kind of relationship.”

“That’s very noble of you.”

“I don’t feel noble.” If she twisted her fingers any tighter, she’d never get them untwined. “I feel… guilty.”

“If one of your parents has been gambling…” He held up a finger when she startled. “I said if.”

“Then what?”

“Then how do you know the money you would give them would go to repay their wedding-incurred debt and not become fuel for more speculative behavior?”